Womanism in Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy: Possibilities and Counternarratives

Bianca Borges; Naiana Galvão

doi:10.17851/1982-0739.31.1.153-173

Autores/as

Bianca Borges Universidade Federal do Norte do Tocantins (UFNT) https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0194-2195
Naiana Galvão Universidade Federal do Norte do Tocantins (UFNT) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7745-8173

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17851/1982-0739.31.1.153-173

Palabras clave:

Womanism, Female Genital Mutilation, Resistance Literature

Resumen

This study examines womanism—its possibilities and contradictions—in Alice Walker’s novel Possessing The Secret of Joy (2022). It focuses on Tashi’s trajectory and her experience of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), highlighting its physical, psychological, and social consequences. The central question investigates how Walker’s narrative, considering womanist principles, fosters reflection on women’s struggles against intersectional oppressions, particularly those related to FGM, while considering identities and sociocultural contexts. The main objective is to discuss the relationship between FGM and womanism as represented in the novel. The methodology is qualitative and interpretive, emphasizing bibliographic review. The theoretical framework draws on Walker’s womanist biography (White, 2004), key foundations of womanism (Phillips, 2006; Walker, 2021), and data from the UN (2015) and the WHO (2025), alongside African counternarratives (Oyěwùmí, 2003). The findings indicate that Tashi’s journey, from a womanist perspective, enables a critical reading of resistance literature through the womanism lens.

Descargas

Los datos de descarga aún no están disponibles.

Biografía del autor/a

Naiana Galvão, Universidade Federal do Norte do Tocantins (UFNT)

Atualmente é professora de Língua Inglesa e Literaturas de Língua Inglesa pela Universidade Federal do Norte do Tocantins, UFNT. Especialista em Língua Inglesa e Literatura Anglo Americana pela UFT, Campus de Porto Nacional. Mestrado em Ensino de Língua e Literatura pela UFT, Campus de Araguaína. Doutora em Estudos Interdisciplinares da Literatura com especificação em Literatura Nativa Norte-Americana pela Escola de Ciências Humanas da Universidade Trás-os-Montes-e-Alto-Douro (UTAD- Portugal). Coordenadora do Laboratório de Línguas do Curso de Letras - Labell da UFNT. Professora Orientadora do Programa da Rede Andifes ISF.

Referencias

CANDIDO, Antonio. Vários Escritos. São Paulo: Todavia, 2023.

COLLINS, Patricia Hill. What’s in a name? Womanism, black feminism, and beyond. The Black Scholar, v. 26, n. 1, p. 9, Winter/Spring 2019. Available at: ProQuest Research Library. Accessed on: 17 Mar. 2025.

EAGLETON, Terry. How to read literature. New Haven: Yale University, 2022.

HARRIS, Melanie L. A womanist story: Alice Walker’s moral biography. In: HARRIS, Melanie L. Gifts of virtue, Alice Walker, and womanist ethics: Black religion, womanist thought, social justice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. p. 15-48.

LUGONES, María. Toward a decolonial feminism. Hypatia, v. 25, n. 4, p. 742-759, Fall 2010. Available at: http://www.jstor.com/stable/40928654. Accessed on: 17 June 2025.

NAKO, Nontsasa. Possessing the voice of the other: African women and the “crisis of representation” in Alice Walker’s Possessing the secret of joy. In: OYĚWÙMÍ, Oyèrónkẹ́ (ed.). African women and feminism: reflecting on the politics of sisterhood. New Jersey: African World Press, 2003. p. 187-195.

OYĚWÙMÍ, Oyèrónkẹ́ . African women and feminism: reflecting on the politics of sisterhood. New Jersey: African World Press, 2003.

PHILLIPS, Layli. Womanism: in its own (introduction). In: PHILLIPS, Layli (ed.). The womanist reader. New York: Routledge, 2006. p. 19-55.

WALKER, Alice. In search of our mothers’ gardens: womanist prose. San Diego: The Women’s Press, 2021.

WHITE, Evelyn. Alice Walker: a life. New York; London: W. W. Norton, 2004.

WHO — WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. Understanding and addressing violence against women: overview. In: WORLD Health Organization. Geneva: WHO, 2012. Available at: https://www.who.int/ publications/i/item/WHO-RHR-12.35. Accessed on: 20 June 2025.

WHO — WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. Female genital mutilation. In: WORLD Health Organization. Geneva: WHO, 2025. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation. Accessed on: 20 June 2025.